


What is Real?

by jezebel



Category: Queer as Folk (UK)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-20 14:17:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21283091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jezebel/pseuds/jezebel
Summary: Transferred from Yahoo GroupsNotes: The majority of this text is taken from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (markedwith *). It reminded me of Stuart and Vince.





	What is Real?

>

Stuart watched in the doorway as Vince read to Alfie. Stuart didn't have the patience for stories but he loved to hear Vince read to his son because not only did Vince have the patience but he read each part with voices and it always made Alfie smile.

*"What is Real?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick out handle?

Real isn't how you are made" said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful"When you are real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once like being wound up, or bit by bit?"

It doesn't happen all at once. You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real." Said the Rabbit. And then wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."*

Vince closed the book as he saw that Alfie was already asleep and realised that they wouldn't get to the end but it didn't matter because they had read his favourite part.

Vince leaned over and placed a soft kiss on Alfie's forehead and then turned, blushing when he saw that Stuart was standing there and had witnessed the intimacy between Vince and his son.

"You didn't finish the story."

"He's out like a light." Vince said as he moved to walk past Stuart. "He wouldn't have heard it anyway."

"You're real to me." Stuart said as he pulled Vince to him and placed a kiss on his lips. "It may have taken a long time to get here, but I want you to know that this lasts for always."

Vince sighed and kissed Stuart in return. He was still getting used to romantic gestures from his new lover.

"Let's go to bed." Vince said with a small smile.

"Will you read the rest to me?"

***

END

**Author's Note:**

> Transferred from Yahoo Groups
> 
> Notes: The majority of this text is taken from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (marked  
with *). It reminded me of Stuart and Vince.


End file.
